Manchester Fans Raise $1,100 For Football Player With Spinal Injury

MANCHESTER, NJ — At Manchester Township High School's home football games, the parents' organization does a fundraiser in the stands.

The "touchdown bucket" gets passed around when the Hawks score, with the donations collected dedicated to the football team.

On Friday against Manasquan, that tradition continued. This time, instead of collecting for their team, however, the Hawks' parents had a much different goal in mind: Helping the family of Aaron Van Trease, the St. John Vianney quarterback who suffered a spinal injury Sept. 23.

High school football teams and their fans throughout the Shore Conference are showing support for Van Trease, a Manasquan resident, who faces a long recovery after undergoing surgery. Fans are wearing black and gold — St. John Vianney's colors — and many are buying black T-shirts bearing Van Trease's number, 18, in gold print that are being sold through Vianney to help support the family.

Manchester's coaches wore the T-shirts Friday night.

Manchester scored one touchdown Friday in a 42-7 loss, but that touchdown bucket got a workout, with parents passing it around for each Manasquan touchdown as well, the team said.

In the end, they collected $1,100 for the Van Trease family.

"Tonight’s bigger than football," a tweet on the team's Twitter account said, noting the fundraising effort and success. The tweet ended with two hashtags: #OneShore #AVT18

Van Trease, an 18-year-old senior, sustained the injury during a normal play in the game. He underwent surgery and is hospitalized in New Brunswick. A GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $138,000.